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“She did it herself.”
“Christ,” Ford says at the revelation.
Lionel ashes his cigarette on the carpet, twists in his chair to look at Wyatt. “You wouldn’t fuck her, right? That’s Sheena. When she doesn’t get what she wants, she destroys.” His face clouds. “She flushed our sea monkeys down the drain when we were kids because hers died and ours didn’t.” A shrug. “She thought she’d fuck you over. Make you squirm.”
“How do you know that?” I snap.
“She fessed up.”
Ford steps forward and stares at Lionel. “Why?”
“Fallon,” Clyde says, and Wyatt looks as surprised as I’ve ever seen him. “She cornered Sheena at the House of Hair. Waved some shears around, shredded every chair in her shop, broke every mirror, and told her to tell the truth. Set things straight in Resurrection or else.”
Lionel laughs. “I thought Sheena had fangs, but Fallon, that woman’s as mean as a snake.”
Wyatt, sucks in a breath, stiffens. “Watch your fucking mouth,” he snarls, smashing Clyde into the wall like he’s a ball of putty.
“So, nah, man,” Lionel says with a smirk. “We may want to put Wyatt in a headlock more often than not, but we wouldn’t hurt your girl.”
“You better be telling me the truth.” My hands ball into fists. “If I find out you’re lying, I will put you in a fucking grave. Do you understand me?”
This time, real fear flickers in his eyes. Good. This motherfucker better get it through his head that I’d kill him, plain and simple.
Lionel, suddenly looking tired, runs a hand over his buzzed head. “Look, we got shit going around our ranch, too. Someone broke into our barn and let out all our livestock. It took us three days to round up our cows. I heard DVLs been creeping on the south side. Coming into town late at night. Wrecking shit.” Lionel gives a dry laugh. The thin mustache on his upper lip twitches. “So, you better lock up what you still wanna own, because these cowbozos from the suburbs are shaking down anyone they can.”
“Those bastards are trying to run us off our own damn land,” Ford says, anger shining in his eyes.
“It’ll get worse,” Clyde says, suddenly sounding like the smartest guy in town.
An image of Ruby crumpled on the floor of her cottage flashes in my mind, and a chill goes through me.
“They’re right,” Davis says. “I talked to Sheriff Richter and other ranches in the area. Billy Mayson found rattlesnakes in his barn. Vendors are collecting early because DVLs putting the pressure on them.”
“Truce then,” I say, crossing my arms. My gaze pinballs between Wyatt and Lionel. “Until we get this shit handled with DVL, no more pranks.”
“You’re the last sons of bitches I’d expect to partner with, but ...” Lionel stamps his smoke in the ashtray, gives me a nod. “Truce.”
“We have the same goal,” I say. “Protect our ranches, our animals, our people.”
“And tell us where our goddamn horse is—”
“Jesus Christ, Wyatt,” Davis and Ford shout in unison.
I turn to my brothers. “C’mon. Let’s get out of here.” I want to get back to Ruby, not stick around here and bullshit with these idiots.
With a flip of his middle finger, Wyatt snatches a beer from the fridge by the door. “See ya, assholes.”
Lionel’s voice stops us at the door. “You wanna know where the horse is? Fine, I’ll tell you, so I don’t have to kick your ass every weekend at Nowhere.” Wyatt snorts. Lionel continues. “We took her. It was a joke. We meant to give her back, but ...” Something dark flickers in Lionel’s eyes and he looks down at his lap. “Our ma sold her, okay? We needed groceries that month and ...well, we didn’t know what else to do.”
A stunned silence coats the room.
Wyatt clears his throat. “Well, fuck.”
I look at Lionel, sitting there in his recliner, looking embarrassed as hell. And I get it. I don’t like the guy, but I understand. Desperate people do desperate things, because when I look at Ruby, I feel the same way.
“Now get the hell outta here,” Lionel snaps, suddenly looking like the asshole we’ve always known.
We climb back into the truck, Davis at the wheel, Ford and Wyatt in the backseat. “That was a bust,” Ford drawls cheerfully.
